The Costco Wholesale experience starts in the parking lot

One of my favorite summer dishes is fresh, wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale grilled on the stove top and smothered in a reduction of organic diced tomatoes, chopped garlic, red wine and fresh herb. Here, I served it with mashed Korean sweet potatoes.

Today, I discuss the bad manners some Costco Wholesale shoppers exhibit in the parking lot, some of my favorite items from the warehouse store, elusive Jersey Fruit and more.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can separate Costco Wholesale shoppers by those who want to park as close to the front door as possible -- and will slam on their brakes and block the entrance to the lot -- and those who don't mind walking from spaces in the back.

The lazy shopper also thinks nothing of leaving the big Costco shopping cart between cars or up against a fender.

Other Costco shoppers I have spoken to complain most about the lot, which one woman described as "a zoo."

In Hackensack, the entrance to the lot leads almost directly to the front doors. But in Wayne, the entrance to the lot is far from the doors, meaning less congestion.

At the Costco Wholesale in Hackensack this afternoon, a lazy shopper left this shopping cart between two cars.

I enjoyed leftover wild salmon and a baked sweet potato for dinner tonight, followed by a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Wild salmon, nuts and spring mix

Fresh, wild sockeye salmon continues to top my list of Costco favorites, now selling for $9.99 a pound.

I have been grilling the fillets skin side down on top of the stove and smothering them in a reduction of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, garlic, red wine and fresh herbs cooked separately.

A 1.57-pound fillet I bought on Monday yielded six serving pieces.

I also bought a 3-pound bag of sodium-free Kirkland Signature Almonds ($14.99), roasted them at home for 1 hour and 20 minutes at 275 degrees and dusted some of them with Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Costco.

Today, I picked up another 1-pound tub of triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99) with an expiration date of Aug. 13, 2014.

At the ShopRite in Paramus on Monday, I couldn't find any Jersey peaches and settled for fruit from South Carolina, on sale for 99 cents a pound. But they were listed on my receipt as "PEACH JERSEY." At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack later in the day, the 2-pound container of blueberries ($4.79) was from Michigan, not New Jersey.

Both of these bottles from the Italian Wine Club (Giordano) contained 750 milliliters of wine.

As seen from the car

On Wednesday, I drove by Pine Hill, a Korean restaurant in Paramus, and saw a huge dumpster near the door and scaffolding against the building's glass front on Paramus Road.

Pine Hill, where I have enjoyed lunches and dinners in recent years, looked as if it has been closed for months.

Driving east on Route 46, I looked across the highway and a new Chinese restaurant called Lan Garden appears to be open after many months of renovation to the building, a former truck-stop diner that once housed China 46.

The cyclone fence blocking the parking lot was gone and I saw three or four cars parked head on in front of the building at 88 Route 46 west in Ridgefield.

The large red sign that said the restaurant specializes in seafood and dim sum has been changed.

China 46, which had a liquor license, closed in 2007. Before that another Chinese restaurant, Phoenix Garden Too, operated there.

A wine tour of sunny Italy for under $5 a bottle

Fifteen bottles of red wine were sent to me by The Italian Wine Club. The introductory case cost about $4.66 a bottle, including the shipping charge.

Editor's note: Today's post discusses the good deals you can get by joining a wine club; carbohydrates in pasta, quinoa and rice; and a boycott on buying giant bluefin tuna.

VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've taken advantage of another introductory offer from a wine club -- this time 15 bottles of red wine from Italy -- with no obligation to buy more.

In the past, I've "joined" wine clubs sponsored by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Zagat and Laithwaites to get cases of red and white wine at low introductory prices.

My 15 bottles from The Italian Wine Club (Giordano) works out to about $4.66 a bottle.

My order was fulfilled by a retailer in Glassboro, Hops and Grapes.

The bottles include a Barbera D'Asti, Sicilia Rosso, Chianti, Nebbiolo D'Alba, Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, Pinot Nero and Sangiovese, all from 2010-12.

The wines come from Piedmont, Tuscany, Abruzzo, 
Apulia and Sicily.

I placed my order over the phone with a woman in Italy who spoke fluent, Italian-accented English.

Ciao, bella.

The Italian Wine Club (Giordano), 1-866-305-8275 (mention code 20572). 

Web site: The Italian Wine Club

Imported organic whole-wheat linguine from Whole Foods Market in Paramus with bottled pasta sauce, anchovies and Moroccan sardines.

Counting carbs

Of course, I'll be enjoying the imported wine I just received with organic whole-wheat pasta, quinoa and brown rice.

I looked at the nutrition labels and compared carbohydrates for a serving of 2 ounces or 56 grams, unless otherwise noted:

I found the fewest carbs -- 31 grams -- in Tru Roots Organic Quinoa from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, but the serving size listed is 46 grams.

Garofalo 100% Whole Wheat Pappardelle from Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood has 33 grams per serving.

The conventional pappardelle from Garofalo is also available at Jerry's, but a serving contains 44 grams of carbohydrates.

Artisan egg pasta from Italy with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale. Like the wine I drank, the basil in the refrigerated pesto is from Italy.

Filotea-brand Tagliatelle, an artisan egg pasta from Italy I found at Costco Wholesale, has 39 grams of carbohydrates per serving.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti has 41 grams of carbohydrates, and both Whole Foods Market Organic Whole Wheat Shells and Organic Whole Wheat Linguine have 42 grams per serving.

Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice from Amazon.com has 35 grams of carbohydrates per serving (45 grams).

I rely on whole-wheat pastas, brown rice and quinoa as substitutes for the bread and pizza I've gave up a few years ago to lose weight and keep it off.

Pasta, pesto and wine

I uncorked a Barbera D'Asti, one of the bottles I received on Monday,  and had a glass with 4 ounces of that artisan egg pasta, which took just 4 minutes to cook up perfectly al dente.

I tossed the tagliatelle with two big tablespoons of Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto. Extraordinary.

I finished my meal with a bowl of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix -- still only $4.99 a pound at Costco -- dressed simply in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Pears from Costco Wholesale, left, and mangoes from H Mart in Little Ferry.

Bluefin boycott

In recent years, I've been avoiding giant bluefin tuna for health and moral reasons.

Unfortunately, the extraordinary bluefin is the most expensive and highest in harmful mercury, and I try to find yellowfin or other tunas when I'm ordering sushi or sashimi.

The voracious appetite of the Japanese for bluefin has led to overfishing, and giant tunas are now being farmed in Spain.

So, I've also been boycotting the annual bluefin tuna "cutting" at Mitsuwa Marketplace, the big Japanese supermarket in Edgewater.

Workers reduce one of the giant tunas to sashimi slices as people crowd forward to buy the prized belly meat for around $75 a pound.

The demonstrations are scheduled for this weekend.